The video I have chosen to represent breaks from indie convention is Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out.
Though the studio setting, editing pace and shots are orthodox for the sake of easier viewing, the video's iconography is anything but. The most obvious difference is that almost the entirety of the video comprises animated imagery rather than live-action footage; pictures of the band and of assorted Victorian-esque machinery and objects are put together to create very unusual imagery.
The cinematography is played with in a way that largely avoids conformance to usual conventions. Though the occasional close-up and medium shot is present, there is also a focus on long shots including the whole band at once, giving all its members equal exposure. A lot of shots cut to a close-up and zoom out, sometimes also panning slowly in one direction.
In the comparatively few live-action shots of the band, they are dressed in a very casual way, donning jeans and loose shirts, which is a common band image across the genre. But these shots are few in comparison to the animated images which place photos of the band's heads atop bodies made of haphazard machinery, which is a decidedly unconventional approach.
- Ross Butterly
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